The new 12-sided coins will enter circulation on 28th March 2017.
The new pound coins have been described as the “most secure in the world”, and the distinctive gold and silver coin contains a range of anti-counterfeiting features.
These include a hologram that changes from a ‘£’ symbol to the number ‘1’ when viewed from different angles.
The old round one pound coin has none of these features - and will cease to be legal tender on 15th October 2017.
The Royal Mint estimates around one in 30 of the current one pound coins are fake, so the new coin has been introduced to keep ahead of counterfeiters.
There are also a lot of one pound coins in savings jars across the UK - the government estimates around £1.3 billion worth of coins are stored in this way.
Consumers will have to make sure they dig these coins out and spend or bank them before the October cut off date.
The change of coin shape will also require businesses to adapt their self-service checkouts, vending machines and shopping trolleys.
Councils will also need to upgrade their parking meters to accept the new coins.
Payphones and fruit machines will also be affected.
Similar changes occured when the new five pound note was introduced on 13th September last year.
Businesses will have to upgrade again when the new ten pound note is brought into circulation in the summer.
A new twenty pound note is expected in 2020, and both will be polymer like the new £5.
The polymer notes were introduced to reduce counterfeiting and to make the note more hardwearing.
But they aren’t completely indestructible - they can be ripped by teeth, burnt by an open flame or microwaved.
However running it through a washing machine did not damage the note.
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